Climate change is a significant and growing threat to food security—already affecting vulnerable populations in many developing countries, and expected to affect ever more people in more places, unless action is taken beginning today.

Extensive vegetation restoration projects have been widely implemented on the Loess Plateau, China, since 1998. In addition, increasing attention has been paid to the influence of revegetation on soil water. However, the response of the soil water content (SWC) to vegetation construction and management has not been adequately studied. In this study, three types of typical artificial vegetation on level bench land were selected, including Pinus tabulaeformis Carr., Prunus sibirica L., and Hippophae rhamnoides Linn., with the natural grassland used as a control group in Wuqi County.

Presently, the lack of data on soil organic carbon (SOC) in relation to land-use types and biophysical characteristics prevents reliable estimates of carbon stocks in montane landscapes of mainland SE Asia. Our study, conducted in a 10,000-hectare landscape in Xishuangbanna, SW China, aimed at assessing the spatial variability in SOC and its relationships with land-use cover and key biophysical characteristics at multiple spatial scales.

Around the world, 26.7 million hectares of agricultural land have been transferred into the hands of foreign investors since the year 2000. This means that these investors possess approximately 2 per cent of the arable land worldwide, or roughly the equivalent to the total area covered by United Kingdom and Slovenia together.

Investing in sustainable infrastructure is the growth story of the future and the global South will account for two thirds  of global infrastructure investment (or  about US$4 trillion per year). This new infrastructure offers a great opportunity to “leapfrog” the inefficient, sprawling and polluting systems of the past

A new report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate calls on governments and finance institutions to scale up and shift investment for sustainable infrastructure as a fundamental strategy to spur growth.

A new report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate calls on governments and finance institutions to scale up and shift investment for sustainable infrastructure as a fundamental strategy to spur growth.

The aim of this study is to determine landscape dynamics in the classified forest of Haut-Sassandra (CFHS) during the periods of conflict in Ivory Coast (or Côte d’Ivoire). To achieve this, the land cover of this protected area was determined by classifying satellite images obtained before, during and after the conflicts, and via ground surveys. Metrics of landscape ecology were calculated. A ground campaign for observing the CFHS’s flora and damages incurred was carried out using a sampling of eighteen 500 m-long transects.

The Directorate of Economics and Statistics collates and analyses data on various aspects of Indian agriculture with view to assist in policy formulation. Its annual publication Agricultural Statistics at a Glance contains time series statistics on a wide range of parameters, such as production and productivity of various crops across state, price support and procurement, land-use, input use, international trade, credit and insurance. This issue of the publication brings out the latest available statistics on these aspects.

This report on the State of Indian Agriculture 2015-16 seeks to present a comprehensive analysis of the recent growth and performance of the agriculture and allied sectors and also to analyze the major emerging challenges. 

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